Breath of the Wildin

Yahoo skiparoo buckle my shoe Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild is a ridiculously fun game and everyone needs to play it immediately. Seriously. I'll be back on Friday for some one-week later impressions and stuff, but wow. Legendary.

Zeldapalooza Day 5

Here, on the final day of this special Legend of Zelda celebration, I'm going to look at my five favorite Legend of Zelda games. Not including Breath of the Wild, of course because I haven't played it yet. Without further ado:

Honorable Mentions:

Literally every other Legend of Zelda game. This series is one of the most influential and well respected series of all time and yeah, there are games that are not as good as others. Not every game can be as revolutionary and big as Ocarina of Time or Link to the Past, but they all hold up and are fun to play time and time again. Now let's get into the top five.

5. The Legend of Zelda

A tried and true classic. This is where the whole series began, but it isn't just nostalgia that makes this game so great. The open world nature of this game truly was visionary for the time and blazed the trail for the future of open world video games, leading up to Breath of the Wild who appears to be reinventing the open world game once more. The Legend of Zelda is an old game, certainly, and many people can't play it because of the graphics and style of the game, but if you can play it, it does not disappoint.

4. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Tough call here between this or Ocarina of Time, but A Link to the Past was so incredibly well done that I honestly believe it to be a better game than Ocarina. Sure, Ocarina was the first 3D adventure for the series, but A Link to the Past was just a fun game. Introducing the game play mechanic of two separate worlds was genius, and this would later be reused in Ocarina. Best 2D Zelda game made, hands down. (Things are about to get dicey up in here)

3. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Alright, I'll come right out and say it: this is so high on the list because this was the first Legend of Zelda title that I ever played and it holds a great amount of nostalgia for me. BUT also this game was incredibly well done and was an extremely appropriate fit for the Nintendo DS system. The complete touch screen controls are what scare most people away from it, but I find that the controls aren't that much of a hassle nor do they detract from the game. Rather, the precision of the stylus on the touch screen allows Link a certain range of mobility and precision that he had not yet possessed. Sure, the Temple of the Ocean King sucked, but everything else about this game was fun and a great pleasure to play.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

For as much as I loved Phantom Hourglass, Wind Waker was like a bigger, cooler version of that game, minus the touch screen controls and blowing into the DS mic. I loved Wind Waker for the same reason I loved phantom hourglass: the sprawling, open sea that is there to explore presents a massive map to check out. And, although it isn't very densely populated with stuff to do, the vastness of the ocean really is neat to explore. Additionally, the combat system in Wind Waker was definitely my favorite part of the game, very fun. (please don't throw anything at me)

1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

I can explain. First of all, Skyward Sword gets a lot of shit for its motion controls and I feel like that's one of the biggest arguments against it even though it actually isn't that bad or much of a handicap. Skyward Sword is such an incredible game because

1. The timeline placement: How freaking cool was it to see the creation of the Master Sword and the founding of the land that will one day be called Hyrule? Really cool!
2. Greater emphasis on quests: there were items called gratitude crystals that you could redeem for mad money or for bigger wallets. These quests were often enjoyable to take part in, aside from the main adventure, and was a nice addition to the usual Zelda formula of going through the dungeons and then fighting the boss and then the game is over.
3. I cannot stress this enough: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has the best dungeons in the whole series. Seriously. These dungeons were all crafted perfectly to cater to the item received and are brimming with difficult puzzles and tough enemies. Seriously, look back at my favorite dungeons, there is good representation for Skyward Sword there! The dungeons of Skyward Sword are massive, but lose no sense of intrigue and will absolutely confuse you at some point. The final dungeon too is a unique challenge that incorporates all of the previous regions you have traveled to.

And yes, I understand that motion controls could be annoying after a bit. I, personally, only really hated the motion controls when I got to the second to last boss fight of the game against Ghirahim where you have to land a stab attack which is actually impossible with the motion controls, so really its luck not skill. That was frustrating. Also, Fi was annoying, even worse than Navi in my opinion. But, overall the game was big in scale, had interesting and humongous dungeons, large and exciting boss fights and cool items along the way. That's why it is my favorite.

Breath of the Wild, the GOAT?

Too early to tell. Although signs are looking like an absolute yes here. I mean with 59 reviews in on Metacritic, Breath of the Wild is tied for the second highest score of all time on the website with a 98. First place? Ocarina of Time. Unti next time, kcduckling out.

Zeldapalooza Day 4

Howdy. kcduckling here with the next installment of Zeldapalooza (trademark pending). But first, some updates on the Weekly Update. I've been trying out some podcast-esque stuff in the car on my commute to school every morning and I think I would really like doing that because it would keep me awake and also save me time later. I created a poll off to the right so cast your vote for what you would most prefer. Additionally, I have made the decision to postpone the weekly update series into April. Sorry for another delay but March is going to be all about Breath of the Wild coverage. Anyhoo, let's get to the fun stuff. Favorite Legend of Zelda bosses ever.

Honorable Mentions:

Ganon (Wind Waker)

Zant (Twilight Princess)

Crayk (Phantom Hourglass)

3. Ganon (Ocarina of Time)

Boy oh boy. Everything about this battle is simply epic. The build-up, the music, the dark theme of the battle all works together perfectly to create this really dark, serious vibe that you look for in a final boss battle. Not to mention that this is the battle that splits the timeline apart, depending on whether or not Link defeats Ganon or doesn't. Both a huge battle in terms of scope of the series and in the magnitude of the foe.

2. Stallord (Twilight Princess)

The Spinner is a really neat item that I honestly totally forgot about while doing my favorite items list, but the Spinner really shows its capabilities in this epic boss fight. Stallord is a massive skeleton of some ancient beast who is reanimated by Zant. The boss fight consists of Link rolling around the edge of Stallord's pit while occasionally jumping into the pit trying to knock out a piece of Stallord's backbone. After that is accomplished, the fight is not over. Stallord's head begins to levitate and you must roll on the rails of a platform after him as he spews fireballs at you, eventually knocking his head to the ground where you can strike the spike in his head to defeat him. 

1. Koloktos (Skyward Sword)

Who else? Koloktos represents the ending of my favorite and, arguably, best dungeon in the Zeld franhcise, so shy wouldn't he be epic as well? Koloktos is a six-armed "ancient automation" buddhist-inspired badass. First of all, the noises it makes as it attacks are really eerie and honestly really cool. It begins the battle throwing small razors at you that return to it like boomerangs as you whip its limbs and tear them off of its body. After this goes on for a hot second, Koloktos decides to sprout some legs and whip out six massive swords from behind its back. This part once again involves whipping his limbs off of its body, but this time the swords that it drops are put to good use, breaking open his caged heart and destroying it to end the battle. The music is on point, the strategy of using its own weapon against it is genius and it was just the perfect ending to an incredible temple. Hats off to you, Koloktos.

Bosses in Breath of the Wild

Thanks to our pals over at Game Informer, we know what one of the big bosses in Breath of the Wild will be. Other than that, we've seen many mini-bosses throughout various trailers and Nintendo gameplay, including some humongous bokoblin relatives, literal stone giants, and a humongous sand worm. 

Breath of the Wild is released about 24 hours from now, so I'll be in tomorrow afternoon for one last Zeldapalooza counting down my top five Legend of Zelda games.

Don't forget to cast your vote in the little poll box on the right side of your screen. Until next time, kcduckling out.

Zeldapalooza Day 3

Today marks officially one week away from the launch of the Nintendo Switch and Zelda: Breath of the Wild. So today, to celebrate, I will be recounting my favorite dungeons of the Legend of Zelda series. This list was very difficult to make, so I expanded it to top five instead of top three.

Honorable Mentions:

Arbiter's Grounds (Twilight Princess)

Lanayru Mining Facility (Skyward Sword)

Snowpeak Ruins (Twilight Princess)

5. Sandship (Skyward Sword)

This dungeon and Lanayru Mining Facility alike I was a huge fan of because of their time shifting mechanic that allowed Link to manipulate the landscape and solve puzzles both in the present and in the distant past. Sandship takes the cake over Lanayru Facility though because of the sheer wackiness of this dungeon. Link is sailing on a small boat searching for this ship when he must shoot it with a cannon to make it visible. From there he boards the ship and uses time shifts to solve the various puzzles and eventually fights a gigantic gorgon-esque beast while the sandship sails on violent seas.

4. Earth Temple (Wind Waker)

A rather unique dungeon in the series in the sense that it is traversed with a partner: Medli, a small Rito girl who plays the harp and will fly Link short distances. The bulk of the temple's puzzles rely on reflecting light in the right way to open doors and disintegrate objects in Link's path. Although most "escort missions" get annoying, this temple is done right and is an overall enjoyable and fun experience.

3. Stone Tower (Majora's Mask)

A fine culmination of most everything Majora's Mask had to offer. A very challenging dungeon that manages to incorporate Link's different masks in fun yet difficult puzzles. As it is the final dungeon of the game, of course there is a twist. After Link has traversed through what he believes to be the whole dungeon, the Stone Tower flips and Link now must solve the rest of the dungeon upside down. This new take on the same dungeon offers a surprising amount of new puzzles while maintaining the same feel and mood of the dungeon.

2. Shadow Temple (Ocarina of Time)

The Shadow Temple stands out to me for a few reasons, one of which is the reliance on the Lens of Truth to seek out invisible floors and distinguish fake walls from the real ones. Another reason this temple is so well remembered and cherished is because of the disturbing ReDead that infest its hallways. These characters are remarked as some of the most disturbing and freakish characters in the whole Zelda franchise. The boss of the temple, Bongo Bongo, is a fitting end to the temple and is a neat boss to fight in of itself.

1. Ancient Cistern (Skyward Sword)

Skyward Sword, in my opinion, had the best overall dungeons, and the peak of the dungeons in the Zelda series for me is Ancient Cistern. Everything about this place is incredibly well done. The entry floor is a beautiful Buddhist-inspired level. A large head sits in the middle of the room and several lily pads are scattered throughout the water. After solving the top floors puzzles, you descend into the bottom of the Ancient Cistern. This is where the dungeon receives its praise. The lower floor is a stark contrast to the upper floor, with nasty water flowing through the floor and cursed bokoblinks roaming around, this contrast is so well done that the two appear to be of two completely separate dungeons. And, to wrap it all up, the boss of Ancient Cistern is oft the receiver of high praise as well: Koloktos. But you'll hear more about him next time.

Dungeons in Breath of the Wild

SPOILERS AHEAD, OBVIOUSLY

Dungeons in Breath of the Wild are in two categories: dungeons and shrines. Shrines are the smaller puzzles scattered throughout the over world which will range in difficulty and time to complete. As for dungeons, it has been all but confirmed that the four Sheikah Divine Beasts will also be the only four dungeons in the game. Nintendo has confirmed that dungeons in Breath of the Wild will be shorter and more straightforward that recent games. This is a bit of a disappointment to me, but I'm sure they will turn out just fine.

Next time we'll go over my favorite bosses of the Legend of Zelda franchise, and spoiler, I've already mentioned one. Until next time, kcduckling out.

Zeldapalooza Day 2

Heyheyhey it's only eight days away from the release of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild so here I am again to continue the Zelda festivities. Today's featured list is for my favorite characters of the franchise. Just a quick note before beginning: this was a very difficult list to make because I had to decide what characters were and were not allowed on the list. Obviously, Link and Zelda and Ganon are all such well-known and awesome characters but I made the decision to exclude them from the list because I wanted to focus on the smaller characters.

Honorable Mentions:

Midna

Biggoron

3. Happy Mask Salesman

Is it wrong to put the happy mask salesman ahead of Midna on this list? Kind of. But the happy mask salesman is such a memorable character mostly because of how unnerving he is. He is most well known for his role in Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time, giving Link various masks for his adventure, seemingly a happy fellow he will go berserk if you upset him. I mean, look at this face and tell me you won't be seeing this in your sleep tonight:

2. Linebeck

Linebeck is the self-centered, greedy, arrogant asshole who Link travels with in Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Linebeck is a treasure hunter who travels the sea on his ship, the SS Linebeck. Throughout the adventure, Linebeck remains behind on every island Link goes to, coming up with various different excuses as to why he cannot help Link. However, by the end of the journey, Linebeck has showed that he is a changed man and he eventually overcomes his greedy nature to help Link. Linebeck's legacy lives on in Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, where Link gets to meet Linebeck III.

1. Beedle

Hands down my favorite character of the series. Beedle makes several appearances all across the different Zelda games: Wind Waker, Minish Cap, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, and Skyward Sword. Beedle is a travelling salesman who is always keen to help Link out. My personal favorite iteration of Beedle is his Skyward Sword character. Beedle is seen in his air shop that floats above Skyloft. Beedle keeps this shop in the air by pedaling a bicycle in the back of the shop. Beedle also has his own island in Skyward Sword where you can help him find his lost beetle. Just listen to this guy! He's the best!

Characters in Breath of the Wild:

*MILD SPOILERS REGARDING CHARACTERS IN BREATH OF THE WILD*

As already mentioned, Beedle will be returning in Breath of the Wild. Also in Breath of the Wild will be a whole variety of races, Gorons, Zoras, Gerudos, and Ritos will all make an appearance in the game, with one leader of each race that may help Link in his quest. Zelda will play a much larger role in this game than she has been in recent games, and it appears as if the Great Deku Tree will also be making a return, along with his Koroks.

Next time I return, I'll be counting down my favorite Legend of Zelda dungeons. Stay tuned because this next one is gonna be juicy! Until then, kcduckling out.

It's Officially Zeldapalooza

As promised, I'm back with some Legend of Zelda festivities. The launch of Breath of the Wild is just 12 days away and I've been doing a little looking back on this magnificent series and composing some lists to commemorate the franchise. They will be:

kcduckling's favorite:

• items
• characters
• dungeons
• bosses
• games

Today's will be first on that list, my favorite Legend of Zelda items. These are both the practical and the fun to use. Although, this was actually one of the tougher lists I made because there are so many different items represented throughout all of the various games. But, I ended up with these:

Honorable Mentions:

Roc's Cape

Pegasus Boots

Bow and Arrow

3. Boomerang

The boomerang has made its appearance in several different games, but the boomerang I want to talk about is the version that we see in Phantom Hourglass. Many people are split on Phantom Hourglass being good or not, but I absolutely loved it and one of the reasons was the touch screen controls that allowed fluid and easy game play. One of the best examples of this was with the boomerang item. Trace any path on the touchscreen and the boomerang would follow that path before returning back to Link. This allowed some complex puzzles and was also useful for chucking through a room and stunning several different enemies all with one toss.

2. Bombchu

The bombchu hasn't seen quite as much screen time as the boomerang, but it is a blast (ha) to use when you do receive it. The bombchu is available in Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Oracle of Ages/Seasons, and Phantom Hourglass. Ocarina of Time bombchus travel in straight lines, will home on enemies, and can even scale up walls. All pretty cool, but once again the usefulness of the DS's touch screen shows with the bombchus. Trace a path for the bombchu to follow, and let it do the rest. They can go through holes in the wall and Link can move simultaenously. Quite handy for a whole plethora of tasks.

1. Beetle

The beetle is special in that it is exclusive to one Zelda title: Skyward Sword. The beetle was a fairly early-game item that could be used to scout out upcoming areas, retrieve hearts and rupees, cut down rope or string, and activate switches. A later upgrade allows the beetle to be away from Link for longer and to carry and drop bombs on enemies and switches. The beetle is one of the most outrageously useful items in any Zelda game, simply because of its versatility. That is why the beetle takes the top spot on the items countdown.

Items in Breath of the Wild

After each list, I'll do a quick summary of what that subject is going to look like in the upcoming Breath of the Wild. 

Not too much has been shown of traditional items in Breath of the Wild. Link will have a bow and his sword, and other than that there are tons of other items that can be used for similar purposes, like sticks and spears. We do know that the days of attaining an item and then using that one item to move through a temple or dungeon are gone, so the number of items could be down.

However, Link now has access to runes, which are similar in some ways to Link's old items. For example, one of his runes allows him to set down or throw bombs while another allows him to raise ice blocks out of water to jump on. It appears these runes will take the place of his more traditional items. 

I'll see you all pretty soon for the next installment: favorite Legend of Zelda minor characters. Until then, kcduckling out.

Legend of Zelda hype

Tomorrow marks two weeks from the American release of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Needless to say, I, along with most other gaming folks in the world are pretty damn excited. So, starting in the next couple days and continuing until the release of the Nintendo Switch and Legend of Zelda, I will be commemorating the franchise as a whole with some fun little posts: favorite dungeons, favorite items, favorite characters, favorite games, and maybe other stuff too. Stay posted and until next time, kcduckling out.